I've wanted to document the kids in their morning routine for a while now, but just never remembered until they were out the door. That hour getting them ready is very chaotic, but this morning I just took my phone around with me and took pictures as I remembered. There are lots that I missed, but this is a good idea of how our mornings usually look on school days.
The alarm goes off at 7:00am
Cole is the easiest to get up. He usually hops right up and gets dressed.
Liv and Ethan are horrible to wake. Ethan usually yells at me to get out of his room and Liv pulls the covers up and ignores me. I usually just leave them alone and they come downstairs in about 10-15 minutes.
Cole always wants to eat first thing. He must wake up starving. He always wants cereal, never anything else. He always makes a huge mess with cereal and milk everywhere. His favorite right now is Cinnamon Toast Crunch. After breakfast Cole does his math facts.
Ethan doesn't like eating with Cole (because he is messy). Once Ethan is dressed with his bed made and room cleaned he always does his reading first. Except for this morning he ate breakfast with Cole and Liv.
While eating Ethan likes to do his math times tables. Lately Ethan always has a strawberry carnation breakfast and peanut butter toast for breakfast.
Liv is not much of a breakfast eater. She will eat a piece of toast if I beg her and a glass of orange juice. She is very slow at getting her stuff done in the morning and needs lots of prompts. She gets side track playing dolls in her room when she is cleaning up.
While the kids eat I make sure all the lunches are ready and put an ice pack in. Ethan likes to have a bagel with strawberry cream cheese or turkey sandwich with carrots, broccoli and ranch, an orange, and wheat thins with hummus. Cole likes to have a bagel with blueberry cream cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an orange, grapes, apple slices, and wheat thins and cheese. Liv wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an orange, apple slices, grapes, and wheat thins and cheese. They all get chocolate milk at school. Everyone once in a while they kids will have school lunch when it sounds good (I love those mornings).
Following this the kids do their reading and get their bags packed. Ethan reads for 30 minutes, Cole for 15 and Liv reads one beginning reading book.
We have to rotate brushing teeth in the morning. I tried to have them work together and regulate who brushes first, but that ended up in a big war with lots of tears and yelling. The bathroom is small and hard to share.
After this Liv is usually ready to let me do her hair. She sits in her pink bean bag and reads flash cards while I do her hair. She is very particular how she wants her hair. Sometimes we have random braids in different directions and sometimes she insists on doing in herself.
We also did spelling words one last time this morning. Friday is spelling test day for the boys.
Once everyone is dressed and ready for the day I check their rooms and beds. If they are clean they all earn their morning allowance for the day.
It's usually about 8:00 at this time. We are working on memorizing the articles of faith so now is when we say the article of faith a few times as a family and then have family prayer.
We walk out the door at 8:10.
The walk is short, just across the street. Ethan and Cole usually play for a few minutes and then walk to their class lines by themselves. I walk with Liv and make sure she gets in the door okay before leaving.
And then I take a big breath and walk home in peace and quiet. That is our morning routine.
We accomplish a lot between 7-8 and it's very crazy, but it makes it much easier when they get home. Less homework and chores and more playtime :)
